Livelihoods, conflict and aid programming: is the evidence base good enough?

Abstract

In conflict-affected situations, aid-funded livelihood interventions are often tasked with a dual imperative: to generate material welfare benefits and to contribute to peacebuilding outcomes. There may be some logic to such a transformative agenda, but does the reality square with the rhetoric? Through a review of the effectiveness of a range of livelihood promotion interventions--from job creation to microfinance--this paper finds that high quality empirical evidence is hard to come by in conflict-affected situations. Many evaluations appear to conflate outputs with impacts and numerous studies fail to include adequate information on their methodologies and datasets, making it difficult to appraise the reliability of their conclusions. Given the primary purpose of this literature--to provide policy guidance on effective ways to promote livelihoods--this silence is particularly concerning. As such, there is a strong case to be made for a restrained and nuanced handling of such interventions in conflict-affected settings.

Media coverage of the ‘UK flooding crisis’: a social panorama

“…In principle, it is possible to argue that disaster and conflict contexts are not the same. However, conflictive interactions exist in such circumstances and indicate something about the fragility of livelihoods and the failure of humanitarian support offered (Mallet and Slater, ). A catastrophic disaster can also cause despair and disillusion and a sense of injustice prevails when the news highlights only narratives of ‘successful’ solidarity actions by external groups.…”

Lessons From Livelihood Interventions that Increase the Resilience of Populations to Droughts in Afghanistan and Other FCAS

“…Within this area, microfinance is one of the most discussed interventions in FCAS. Ultimately, the evidence base for microfinance and microcredit programmes in FCAS appears mixed (Mallett and Slater, 2016). There are questions about how the poor are being incorporated into global markets, and the degree to which microfinance supports livelihoods of the most vulnerable populations in conflict and emergency environments.…”

“…M4P) that seek to reduce poverty by increasing the ways that poor populations interact with markets, gained significant attention in 2011 and 2012, but the evidence base since then remains limited. In SLRC's systematic review by Mallett and Slater (2016), only three out of 483 studies met the criteria for inclusion. It is likely, however, that governments and donors have embraced similar principles through a focus on financial inclusion interventions in FCAS, even if evidence is lacking.…”

Elementos constitutivos de um desastre catastrófico: os problemas científicos por detrás dos contextos críticos

“…outras facetas da desumanização Embora a literatura assinale que o altruísmo seja o comportamento social preponderante em contexto de desastre (31), outros casos de catástrofes no Brasil demonstraram que, passado um breve período de uma reabilitação emergencial, as medidas recuperativas foram limitadas e o abandono das vítimas foi a regra (32), pois a marginalização histórica dos afetados autorizava a prática de slow violence (33) contra os mesmos. Denominar as medidas usuais de reabilitação como "assistência humanitária" deixa escapar a dimensão da cidadania e o fato de que os programas humanitários pouco lutam pelo justo ressarcimento àqueles que tudo perdem numa tragédia (34).…”